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What You Must Know Before You Become an Entrepreneur
August 16, 2011 | 
Author Does entrepreneurship interest you? Could it be that you plan to get your own store where clientele can come by? You may also prefer to become a health, cosmetics, and beauty product dealer. If you wish for, you can also have an online shop. Each will, naturally, have its own array of pros and cons. Find out which option works the best for you.
To make the most of the market, you may even employ a little bit of each method.
After you determine what selling method you are going to use, it's time to start on the search for the perfect location. When in business, it is very important to pay attention to location. Consider the level of foot traffic that an area gets when you are choosing a store location. If you wish to sell online, make your mark on a fashionable networking web site and advertise as much as you could. On site stores could also greatly benefit from an ad campaign. If you possibly can, take out an commercial in the paper, on the local radio, or even on TV. This helps get your label around. It is also significant to value the importance of ‘word of mouth’ marketing. Ask shoppers to tell people they know about your store and about what you'd do. These approaches can help to boost sales.Aside from just figuring out where to sell and how to advertise, you should also find out what you should sell. For example, you can go for dermatologic products and urge clientele to buy Acnezine Acne treatment. There is no limit to what you choose. Trade a wide range of products if you desire. If you favor, you can also service a specific market like nail fungus cures and sell Zetaclear Nail Fungus Relief.
Once you know what it is you desire to sell your next step would be to make sure that the goods are of good quality. Before you decide on any particular product, make sure that you read as many testimonials as you can first. For instance, before you are looped into selling stretch mark creams from Revitol, guantee that you read Revitol stretch mark creams product reviews. This can help to ensure that you are advertising only the best. That way you can establish trust with your clientele.
It is also crucial for you to have a good relationship with your providers. This is another great reason why selling a good product is so vital. Think about it, if you know that you are selling a good product, you won't be bothering your providers with a lot of complains about product quality. It is also vital to go straight to the manufacturers whenever possible.
The Many Needs Met by a Small Business Loan
As many small businesses struggle in difficult economic times, small business loans are reaching heightened demand. With multiple applications for the money one borrows, these loans can be a convenient way to take care of financial woes faced by the business. From start-ups to expansions, small businesses everywhere are benefitting from the small business loan.
A common use of the small business loan is to purchase or replace company assets. From inventories to manufacturing machinery, assets can be a wide variety of things. Essentially, the company's assets are what allow the business to gain profit. Without assets, the business fails. Without funds to purchase assets, the business simply doesn't stand a chance. Even if you're looking to expand your business with additional assets to increase production, a small business loan can certainly help.
As most of us know, businesses commonly seek ways to improve their overall look. From new signs to complete remodels, it's important that the business look its best to attract customers. A small business loan is a great way for the business owner to find the funds to allow for such steps to be taken. If the overall appearance of the business is causing a loss of customers, the business owner is compelled to take action to resolve the issue. From a quick paint job, to an entirely new look, a business loan can give the business the financial freedom to improve their look.
Another obvious application of the funds secured through a small business loan is the purchase of property on which to conduct business. From expansions to a start up, the business must have a location at which to operate. The most common use for a small business loan, naturally, is the initial investment of said location. With so many options available, it's important for the business owner to be knowledgeable about the best loan to suit his or her particular needs.
No longer as simple as setting up shop, the world of small businesses continues to evolve. With more new businesses opening their doors every day, the demand for loans has increased substantially. From day to day operations to big projects, small business loans are useful tools for the business owner to create and maintain a highly profitable operation. Whatever you're in need of when you seek out a lender and fill out an application, there is a small business loan tailored to fit your needs.
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Tags: action, appearance, application, business, care, chance, demand, freedom, investment, issue, Loan, location, look, loss, machinery, manufacturing, money, need, operation, production, profit, purchase, shop, small business loan, small business loans, use, way | 
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Making Easy Money
So you interested in making easy money, who isn't? As you know there are four of us in this little doughnut venture that we have been doing or thinking about for almost a year now. It was conceived in Rehoboth Beach, after discussing some projects we wanted to get into in the future. The four of us have two or three meetings every year discussing the details of what we are doing. We look to find new projects, assess what we have done in the past and looke for what we're going to do in the future. Each of us come from a different background, and each of us bring something unique to the table, which makes it a very nice business marriage.
Like anything in business,the donut business is not a get rich quick scheme. Like everything else in life, it takes work and dedication. As those who manage their time and learn from their mistakes that will be successful. You've heard the old adage when you first learned to ride a bicycle, when you fall, you get up and try again until you learn how to do it correctly. This is what happens in business. Myself, I've had a lot of failures. I have made many many mistakes. I try to learn from my mistakes and I never give up. There is nothing better than the school of hard knocks.
There's a lot to do from the inception of your idea to the point when you are making money. Many of you are tired of your jobs, afraid of what is around the corner And overall just burnouts on everything. The best advice I can give you before you start to make the so-called easy money is try to get your debts paid off, the bad debt. This is something that will never go away and will hunt you the rest of your life. Did you knows that bill collectors can come after you Pretty much the rest of your life, as long as it has not been paid? The debt just gets sold over and over and over and over and over. It may have been erased from your credit score, and I'm not telling you to pay it, but it still can haunt you. Please do not go into debt, especially on frivolous things that you do not need. Using debt wisely, such as to finance a fledgling business, can be a wise thing if done correctly. It is not wise however, to use debt to finance things such as vacations, clothes, cars etc. Of course the donut businesses is not the only way to make the so-called easy money, There are more ideas than I can even put in this one blog post. Bottom line is keep your mind open and stay out of debt. That can be a good thing, but as I previously said, do not use it to finance things you do not need. Saved debt to finance business ideas where you have a solid business plan and a way to get out of the business of necessary.
Trying Out Different Ideas/Menu Items in Your Donut Business
We have talked before in previous posts about trying different things in your donut business. Questions come up like should I sell coffee? Should I sell milk? Should I sell coffee? Should I sell orange juice? Each one of these has its disadvantages and advantages, just like selling anything else. You need to consider the overhead that each one will give you and the profit that each one could give you as well. You may, depending on the location, be better off just sticking to selling your doughnuts alone without anything else accompanying them. But there are situations where selling drinks could be beneficial.
I think we mentioned this before, we were in San Francisco on Pier 59 I believe (I'm not sure of the exact number) And there was a small doughnut shop on the Pier. It had been there a few years before and I assume that it is still there now. They seem to do very well, even though it was a slow time of year and the traffic was down. There were not a lot of people on that here, buying anything. But the little doughnuts shop had a steady flow of traffic buying their doughnuts. I thought it was very interesting, and that we had seen the doughnut shop before it was not until a year later that we had the idea to have one of our own. But one thing that we noticed is they did not sell any beverages except coffee. They sold a mini bag of doughnuts with about Half a dozen in each bag for three dollars. My partner and I absolutely loved them. Wow, it makes me want to go back to San Francisco, the two of us. We had such a good time, it really brings back good memories.
Anyway, back to trying different things in your donut business. If you have a stand-alone store and offer multiple varieties Of doughnuts, like the big chains, then of course it will be necessary for you to have drinks. He not only will have to have coffee, but you will probably have to have orange juice sodas and other drinks people enjoy in your area. By the same token if you have a large store then you probably won't need multiple varities of donuts. This is just not our business model, we are selling small doughnuts without drinks. Perhaps in the future we can offer a bigger menu. But for us this works out very well. Try different things in your donut business will be depend on your resources, venue and your audience, it is pretty much that simple.
Good Place to Get Donut Equipment
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** BAKERY CONCESSION TRAILER ** |  |
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US $72,000.00 | 10d 17h 16m |
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8064 BLANCHARD Model 11-20 Rotary Surface Grinder | |
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US $22,500.00 | 15d 16h 8m |
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CECO MODEL 42- BTT CARTONING MACHINE | |
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US $16,000.00 | 12h 2m |
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KING MODEL SC6L STAINLESS STEEL SLAT COUNTER | |
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US $12,500.00 | 5d 14h 7m |
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MPM AP 25 / 27 Automatic Screen Printer | |
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US $12,500.00 | 28d 14h 43m |
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Received call from Lil Orbits
I received a phone call from Rob Sturdy from Lil Orbits yesterday (Wed) regarding my questions about the donut making process with his company's products. I was impressed that he would take time to call me--you don't see that kind of follow up very often in the real business world. He mentioned that when making the donuts by hand with the applicator that they wouldn't come out in a perfect round shape, and the exercise should be used more for a taste test. I told him that we'd already discovered that and that it was a bit of a relief. I thought we were doing something wrong, and he said no probably not as far as the shape is concerned. Rob also confirmed what my partners and I were thinking. Making a small batch of donuts with a small amount of batter is much different than making a large number of donuts with a large amount of batter. Surface area of the batter matters due to evaporation as does the surface area of the heated grease for sufficient cooking with limited absorption. He said better, more consistent results are noted when using their large automated donut making machines. This makes sense to me. We'll be making more donuts this weekend using a new thermometer to control the grease temperature. I am interested to see if the the temperature wheel on the fry daddy is even close. I will blog about the experience later.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: applicator, call, donut, exercise, grease, phone, round, surface, taste, test | No Comments »
Benefits of a Donut Franchise
Opening a donut business can be very frustrating and time-consuming. Going at it alone can be intimidating and overwhelming. Although we have made the decision not to invest in a good franchise, we can see where it could be beneficial. The startup cost and net worth requirements are very high for a good donut franchise. Many times you can pool the resources of two or three people to adhere to the requirements of the donut franchise. These requirements can be very high at times.
One thing the doughnut franchise will give you is support and market research. They will also advertise your store and give you a budget for advertising. Of course they will take a royalty from your revenue, but that is the price of doing business. There are few businesses where I would recommend a franchise, but anything having to do with food, is not a terribly bad idea. Another thing that the doughnut franchise will give you his brand recognition. People will be familiar with the brand and will come into your store simply because they are familiar with the doughnuts that the brand sells. You'll be miles ahead of people getting to enjoy your doughnuts. You will not have to spend years of getting the word out about your brand, because it will pretty much already have been done for you. People are very particular when it comes to food, and if you have an established done that franchise to back to you, you'll be way ahead of the competition. The donut franchise will also give you good ideas on where to locate your doughnut business. They will have extensive experience on where to locate the doughnut shop. This experience can prove to be invaluable, and keep you from making big mistakes.
If you have the money to invest, and are financially fit, then the donut franchise model may be best for you. You'll need to look closely into each one, and decide which one best suits your situation. Some of the donut franchises will require a Hands on approach where others will let you simply be an investor. Again you will need to look closely and find out which one best suits your situation.
Reply to questions from Lil Orbits
As promised, here are the answers to my questions sent to Lil Orbits.
Thanks for your interest in Lil Orbits - here are the answers to your questions -
1) The donut shortening is good for about 40+ hours of cooking time -
You will know when it is time to change it out - it starts a clear dark amber color and as you cook it will become darker - more opaque and brown. It will start to smoke and you may see a film on the top of the shortening - then it is time to change -
The temp. has to be 375 degrees - our machine controls the temp. the best that I know of - our shortenings - cube and liquid are vegetable shortening and blended to work well with our donut mix. Our mix and shortenings are Kosher Certified.
2) Water can effect the taste of the donuts - some water in communities are fine - some have a smell or taste that is poor. Some people have gone to bottled water so that no matter where they are the donuts taste the same. I would not used distilled -
3) We recommend that you allow the mix to set for 10 minutes - first batch of the day to set in the hopper so that it can get down around the cutter and any air bubbles will be gone. The batter in the hopper is good for a few hours but I recommend that you use it sooner than that. It does thicken a little but the cutter in the hopper handles it.
I believe that the temp of the donut fry and it's age have more to do with the taste of the donuts - 350 degrees, does not cook the outside to a crisp and allows too much fry to soak in. 400 degrees cooks the outside too fast and in order to get the middle of the donut cooked the outside gets too dark -
More questions - just ask -
Rob
Third donut taste test
Our third taste test did not go as well as the first two. We repeated the process for the specific purpose of filming everything for the blog thinking that what we had done previously would replicate. But it did not, and we were unsure why. When mixed according to the directions the batter was too runny and formed strings in the grease. Our solution was to add more mix to thicken the batter which worked. But did this change the texture or amount of grease absorbed? Unknown.
The donuts were easier to make in round shapes and actually looked donut-like today, but otherwise were inferior to what we'd made before. This was the third time the grease from Lil Orbits was used, and as expected after repeated use it turned darker. All grease does this so it was not unexpected, but we were unsure how the quality of the product would be affected. I also noted that when cooled, it took longer for the substance to solidify from a liquid back to its solid, partially hydrogenated state. Chemically, there had to have been a change between the three tests. The donuts that were produced were excessively greasy with a less fluffy interior.
Another change that could have affected the outcome was in the water content. The house where the donuts were made had a water softener installed between the first and second taste test. A change in water quality was noted by the owners in other areas.
Overall, we just were not as happy with what we made. If we'd gotten these donuts on our first taste test we might have just quit as it's doubtful that customers would have liked them after they bought them. One thing we had not done from the start was control exactly for the temperature of the grease. We failed to purchase a cooking thermometer and relied on the fry daddy temperature gauge which went in 50 degree increments. The directions called for a cooking temperature of 375 so we set the fry daddy wheel halfway between 350 and 400—logical yes but not necessarily accurate.
After the conslusion of the third test, we purchased more dry mix from Lil Orbits for further experimentation as well as some dry mix from a competing company. We'll also use the soy bean oil purchased from Sam's. I believe we can draw the same conclusions about how may time grease can be reused with donuts whether we use the Lil Orbits product or the Sam's product.
I am going to contact Lil Orbits to ask them some very specific questions about their product and the recommended process. My questions will be: Does is matter if soft water is used in the mixing of the batter? How often can the Lil Orbits grease be used before taste is affected and it needs to be discarded? How long can the batter sit before the consistency is affected and how can we keep this from happening without compromising the taste and texture? How critical is the cooking temperature? Are there any other variables that could affect the taste, texture, and absorption of grease? I will post the answers to my questions on this blog.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: change, daddy, donut, everything, grease, round, test, thicken, today, use | No Comments »
